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Abstract

The general morphological shape of plant-resembling fish and plant parts were compared using a geometric morphometrics approach. Lobotes surinamensis (Lobotidae), Platax orbicularis (Ephippidae) and Canthidermis maculata (Balistidae), three plant-mimetic fish species, were compared during their early developmental stages with accompanying plant parts (i.e. leaves of several taxa) in the coastal subtropical waters of Kuchierabu-jima Island, closely facing the Kuroshio Current. The degree of similarity shared between the plant parts and co-occurring fish species was quantified, however fish remained morphologically distinct from their plant models. Such similarities were corroborated by a linear model, in which relative body areas of fish and plant models were strongly interdependent. Our results strengthen the paradigm that morphological clues can lead to ecological evidence to allow predictions of behavioural and habitat choice by mimetic fish, according to the degree of similarity shared with their respective models. The resemblance to plant parts detected in the three fish species may provide fitness advantages via convergent evolutionary effects.

Author Comment

This is PeerJ submission for review.

Supplemental Information

S1_Figure

Map of Kuchierabu-Jima Island (A), with the port of Honmura (B), where mimetic fish were observed drifting along with plant debris (C)

Additional Information

Competing Interests

Author Contributions

Alexya C Queiroz conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables.

Yoichi Sakai conceived and designed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper, sampling.

Marcelo Vallinoto conceived and designed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper.

Breno Barros conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper, sampling.

Animal Ethics

The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):

As there is no national Japanese licensing framework, samples were collected following the “Guidelines for Proper Conduct of Animal Experiments” set out by the Hiroshima University Animal Research Committee, which are based on international ethical standards (Jenkins et al., 2014), and only after obtaining local community permission.

Data Deposition

The following information was supplied regarding data availability:

All relevant data are made available with the manuscript, and must be published as supplementary material if our MS is accepted for publication in PeerJ.

Funding

This study was financially supported by CAPES (process #6718-10-8) and FAPESPA (process # 456780/2012). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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